Online sales spike in July

Making an even better case that luxury brands need to step up their online game, online sales for July 2009 were up almost 16% from the previous month, and 17% from July 2008, which was before the year’s economic collapse took place. The fastest growing sector? Clothing, shoes and accessories.

Since online sales on the whole are gaining at a steeper rate than those of brick-and-mortar locations, luxury brands look like dinosaurs more than ever for their reluctance to enter a marketplace that could save their businesses. More importantly, sales of luxury goods in particular are down in stores, while the same types of goods are experiencing a bit of a resurgence online, and most of the brands we know and love are poorly equipped to reap the benefits of this rally.

We’ll have a more in-depth look next week at what the slowly recovering economy means for designers and brands, but for now, an increase in consumer confidence and willingness to spend, encouraged by new collections and enticing discounts, means that the brands you love are more likely to live to fight another day and more able to take design risks and fully flush out their vision. But none of that will matter if they can’t get their products placed in a way that makes them enticing to consumers that are increasingly looking to shop online.